John Hughes was the beloved film director who, according to the New York Times, “helped define a generation” in movies such as The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Sixteen Candles. They may have been sassy and a bit extreme at times, but that’s precisely how a high school student feels about their life. Switching gears to another John—John Tucker, who must die.
John Tucker Must Die is the story in which “three ex-girlfriends of a serial cheater set up their former lover to fall for the new girl in town so they can watch him get his heart broken.” In order to sabotage John Tucker, the girls convince him to wear a thong, convince people he has genital herpes, and give him estrogen to undermine his manhood. Now these things are extreme. Not extreme in a five high school kids becoming best friends through detention kind of way, but in a “You’re an idiot. Nobody acts like that.” kind of way.
The films that represent my generation are nothing short of embarrassing. They don’t grasp the thrills, the anxiety, or the awkwardness of being a high school teen. They’re simply created to make us laugh at people that don’t really act like people do, and aren’t very good actors either.
I have to agree that I'm pretty disappointed in the movies that are supposed to be honest replicas of teen life. While some of them are a little amusing (or a lot), none seem to hold true to teen life. I'm not really sure if it's possible to make a film like that, though. Would people actually watch it? Or would they be bored at watching something they felt like they'd seen before? It's hard to tell becuase I don't think there's ever been a movie like that. I'd like to see it though, if there was.
ReplyDeleteAh! I totally agree with you. I know that I wouldn't want to watch a movie on my life. It's just mundane and boring, but then again, if you think about Ghost World, it was pretty dang realistic. They just kinda walked and talked, but it was the psychology of it that kept us intrigued, or at least me. I think that kind of film is really interesting.
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